(NewsNation) — Prosecutors announced Monday that they are charging a suspect in a string of deadly robberies in southern California with capital murder.

Malik Patt, 20, is accused of killing three people during robberies at a half-dozen 7-Eleven stores across three counties in the Los Angeles area. A second suspect, Jason Payne, 44, was arrested in connection with the robberies, but police do not believe he was involved in the killings.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the violence among the “cruelest, most inhumane crimes I’ve ever seen” during his time in law enforcement.